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Hurricane Katia
Hypercane Fay (also referred to as Superstorm Fay or The Storm of the Century II) was the first hypercane ever recorded in history. It was also the deadliest, costliest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded, and also produced the highest winds recorded on the surface of the Earth measured by Hurricane hunters: . The sixth named storm, fourth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the hyperactive and record-breaking 2038 Atlantic hurricane season, Fay formed out of a vigorous tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on August 7, while continuing westward across the Atlantic. Development did not occur until just before the wave reached the Lesser Antilles, where organization quickly took over and developed into a tropical storm while situated to north of Cuba late on August 15. The storm gradually strengthened until entering the western Caribbean Sea on August 20, where unprecedented explosive deepening took place, and Fay went from a tropical storm to a Category 6 in 24 hours – a record pace. It eventually attained its peak intensity in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico on August 27 before striking near New Orleans, Louisiana as a slightly weaker storm on August 29. It rapidly weakened while inland and eventually dissipated on September 4. Up to $985 billion in damages were attributed to the storm, making Fay the costliest hurricane on record. It also killed more then 30,000 people, making it the deadliest such storm on record, surpassing that of the Great Hurricane of 1780, nearly 260 years earlier. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) described the cyclone as "a warning sign that global warming is occurring and that we need to stop it before more storms of this magnitude strike causing more catastrophic damages and loss of life". Meteorological history On August 7, a vigorous tropical wave moved off the west coast of Africa, with a decent amount of thunderstorm activity as it progressed westward at a steady pace of around . The wave was not anticipated to develop until reaching the Caribbean or the Bahamas, due to moderate to high wind shear. By August 10, the wave was designated as a potential area for development (named Invest 91L) by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) as it approached the Lesser Antilles. Moving west to west-northwestward, the disturbance then began to develop rapidly, and on late on August 15, a Hurricane Hunter aircraft confirmed the presence of a closed circulation center about to the east of the Lesser Antilles. This prompted the NHC to upgrade the disturbance to a tropical storm at 18:00 UTC on August 15, and it was assigned the name Fay. The newly-formed tropical storm continued to gradually move westward towards the western Caribbean Sea while strengthening early on August 20, as an anticyclone began to build above it. As it reached the western Caribbean Sea, wind shear virtually vanished, extreme sea surface temperatures of around and historic ocean heat content indexes prompted historic explosive intensification, and Fay went from a tropical storm on August 20 to a Category 6 hurricane on August 21. Its pressure also dropped nearly 150 millibars, going from to in the course of a day. The anticyclone over Fay continued to strengthen, prompting an outflow never before seen in any tropical cyclone – Fay was producing up to 90 knots of wind shear from its outflow, enough to destroy any tropical storm that got too close, which was the quick demise of Tropical Storm Edouard. Continuing to take advantage of the extremely favourable conditions, the hurricane continued to explosively deepen on a historic scale throughout the next two days, and after gradually turning to the northwest, Fay made landfall on the western tip of Cuba as a Category 7 hurricane with winds of . Immediately after, the hurricane entered the Gulf of Mexico. A second period of explosive deepening took place as it encountered sea surface temperatures of up to , and Fay eventually reached its peak intensity on the afternoon of August 27 as a hypercane with maximum winds of and a minimum pressure of , making it the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded on the planet. Shortly after attaining its peak intensity, a dropsonde from a Hurricane Hunters aircraft was dropped into the eyewall of the storm, and measured a sea-level sustained wind gust of , which was later confirmed to not be contaminated by heavy rainfall. This was officially the highest surface winds ever recorded on the Earth. Continuing to move northwest, Fay maintained its peak strength for another 24 hours, before undergoing an eyewall replacement cycle, and weakening slightly to on August 28. The final destination for landfall was predicted to be near New Orleans, Louisiana, with catastrophic or likely total damage predicted. Before landfall, an elongated trough associated with the remnants of Hurricane Boris from the Eastern Pacific began to move eastward through the United States, and Fay began to interact with this trough as it neared landfall. On August 29, at 12:30 p.m CDT – which coincidentally was the 33rd anniversary since Hurricane Katrina struck the area in 2005 – Fay made landfall about south of New Orleans as a hypercane with winds of and a pressure of , making it the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone ever recorded. The eye of the cyclone passed directly over New Orleans, with reports of a "partly cloudy" sky in the eye. New Orleans was also hit with the worst part of the eyewall, which the National Hurricane Center described as "basically an EF5+ tornado that was 50 miles wide". Now inland, Fay began to steadily weaken as it made its second landfall about west of Gulfport, Mississippi as a Category 7 with winds of , its winds having finally dropped below hypercane-force. The hurricane then underwent dramatic weakening as it began to accelerate to the northeast, with Fay weakening to a tropical storm by late on August 31. On September 1, Fay completed its transition into an extratropical cyclone while situated over Tennessee as a storm. Fay was last noted on September 4 over the Carolinas, before the low- and mid-level centers split later that evening. Preparations The Bahamas Cuba United States Impact Aftermath and records Retirement References (Purely fictional.)